Shoe cleaning device in the form of an endless belt



A. MERKEL Aug. 31, 1965 SHOE CLEANING DEVICE IN THE FORM OF AN ENDLESS BELT Filed Feb. 11, 1963 I NVENTOR ADOLF I IERKEL United States Patent 3,203,020 SHOE CLEANING DEV'ICE IN THE FORM OF AN ENDL'E'SS BELT Adolf Merkel, im Tann 19, Unterpfaifenhofen, near Munich, Germany Filed Feb. 11, 1963, 'Ser. No. 259,772 3 Claims. (CI. -36) The present invention relates to a shoe cleaning device which is particularly suitable for larger buildings in which many persons go in and out.

The known shoe cleaners or door mats are of rigid design and consist e.g. of iron-rods, rubber blocks, sheetmetal stripes, cocoor textile fibres and are either laid loosely on the floor at the entrance doors, in front of stairs etc. or they are enclosed in a frame and fixed. If they are dirty they must be lifted and the interstices and and the surface underneath them must be cleaned. Particularly in case of snowfall in wintertime considerable amounts of dirt and snow are caught by the mats and their cleaning is rendered more difiicult by the frost. Melted snow water which is not drained away prevents furthermore a satisfactory cleaning of the shoes. If many persons pass over the mats as is the case in department stores, ofiice buildings, schools, meeting rooms or churches, there is an accumulation of dirt in the rooms and expenses are involved for cleaning the rooms and the door-mats and for eliminating the dirt accumulated under them. Besides the cited larger buildings the invention is also suitable for railway heads, railway carriages, barracks, restaurants, larger private houses, clinics and 110spitals.

By means of a shoe cleaning device the mat of which consists of textile fibres, rubber, sheet-metal stripes or the like, the cited drawbacks and difiiculties are avoided according to the invention by arranging over two parallelly running rollers an endless belt serving as the door mat. In order to avoid sagging of the belt when a person steps onto it and in order to make possible a firm standing a supporting plate is arranged between the upper part and the lower part of the belt.

The simplest embodiment of the invention is thus represented by a device in which on two opposite sides of a rectangular frame two rollers are arranged which are rotatable and over which an endless belt is trained, the supporting plate being fastened to the frame. This device may be mounted in a cavity in the floor. If the surface of the door-mat has become dirty the belt may be advanced either by hand or preferably by a driving device, so that the dirty part is guided underneath the upper part and the cleaned part which was before underneath comes to the top. Underneath the device a drip cup may be provided which has a drainoutlet or which may be arranged in such a manner that it can be taken out easily.

One of the rotatable rollers may be driven directly by means of a crank or a hand-wheel by hand through a chain drive or by bevel gears or by means of a gearmotor or the like. In case of an automatic drive the belt is advanced only very slowly and preferably always only by a specific distance.

The cited supporting plate for avoiding the sagging of the door-mat by the load of the person stepping onto it is arranged directly under the upper part of the belt. The supporting plate may be in turn supported by transverse supports secured to the frame. It protrudes over the lower stretch of matting on both sides, in order to drain e.g. melting snow water to the drip cup. The plate diricted likewise obliquely downward at the front roller may be arranged at the same time as a scraper in order to scrape off any dirt which may still adhere to the roller. The opposite side of the supporting plate is, however,

ice

rounded off and configurated in such a manner, that the belt cannot get caught on it.

The supporting plate prevents dirt falling through onto the lower stretch of matting. If, however, a perforated supporting plate should be preferred it would be necessary to provide directly underneath the supporting plate a further drip cup inorder to drain any drip water into the lower drip cup, so that it cannot reach the lower stretch of the belt. In order to avoid the use of a further drip cup the supporting plate may also be provided with transverse grooves which run at right angles to the direction of movement of the belt.

For positive drive of the endless belt of matting by the driving roller there may be provided meshing teeth on the roller and the belt. It is also possible to use lateral guide rollers fixed on the supporting plate or other devices in order to guide the belt. For eliminating any dirt, which does not fall by itself into the lower drip cup as the the belt moves, there may be provided a brush which brushes oif any residual dirt as the belt runs over it. Beyond the brush a drying device may be provided.

Any openings present between the surface of the mobile belt and the floor are preferably closed by cover plates.

On the basis of the drawing an embodiment of the invention will now be described herein with reference to the drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows a side view, partly in section, of a device according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 shows a section through this device along the line A-B in FIG. 1.

The device shown in the drawing consists essentially of an endless belt 1 consisting of a coco-fibre or textile-fibre carpet, a grating or the like which is trained over two rotatable rollers 2 and 2a.

The roller 2 is driven by the drive mechanism 3. The roller 2a is driven by the belt 1.

The supporting plate 5 is bent obliquely downward along the edges at 12 in order to drain dirty water into the drip cup 6, from where it can drain off through the outlet tube 7. On the front side the supporting plate is likewise bent downward obliquely and configurated as a scraper 5a in order to scrape off any dirt adhering on the roller 2 and to keep the surface of the roller 2 clean.

By the advance movement of the belt 1 the dirt is conveyed and falls into the drip cup 6 as the belt passes underneath the device. In addition a brush 8 is arranged by which any remaining dirt is brushed off when the belt passes along the brush. The bottom of the drip cup 6 is slightly inclined towards the drain tube 7, so that water is drained 01f through the outlet and the cleaning is facilitated.

As already stated, it is suitable in some cases to arrange the drip cup in a landing so that it may be taken out easily towards the front or the side.

I claim:

1. Shoe cleaning mat in the form of an endless belt, comprising an endless belt, means for supporting said belt including two rollers parallelly spaced around which said belt is wound, means for rotatably supporting said rollers including members having upper surfaces extending along and close to the edges of the belt, said belt having upper and lower portions, the upper portion being directly exposed to the shoe sole to be engaged thereby, and a backing plate arranged close to, and below said upper portion, said backing plate having projections extending outwardly and downwardly from the edge of the topmost portion of the belt, and a receptacle arranged below said bottom portion of said belt and having portions extending sidewise from under said bottom portion of said belt to a position to receive dirt from said downward projections of said backing plate.

2. Device according to claim 1 wherein the top surface of the supporting member and the belt are arranged substantially flush with said floor.

3. Device according to claim 1 comprising means for driving at least one of said rollers from a distant position outside and above said top portionrof said belt.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS CHARLES 4 9/49 Swanson 15-36 X 12/50 Fallowfield 15-36 4/51 Spang 1593 X FOREIGN PATENTS 2/27 France. 9/ 30 France. 10/ 55 France. 9 5 8 France. 5/60 Norway. 2/ 39 Switzerland.

A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner. 

1. SHOE CLEANING MAT IN THE FORM OF AN ENDLESS BELT, COMPRISING AN ENDLESS BELT, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID BELT INCLUDING TWO ROLLERS PARALLELLY SPACED AROUND WHICH SAID BELT IS WOUND, MEANS FOR ROTATABLY SUPPORTING SAID ROLLERS INCLUDING MEMBERS HAVING UPPER SURFACES EXTENDING ALONG AND CLOSE TO THE EDGES OF THE BELT, SAID BELT HAVING UPPER AND LOWER PORTIONS, THE UPER PORTION BEING DIRECTLY EXPOSED TO THE SHOE SOLE TO BE ENGAGED THEREBY, AND A BACKING PLATE ARRANGED CLOSE TO, AND BELOW SAID UPPER PORTION, SAID BACKING PLATE HAVING PROJECTIONS EXTENDING OUTWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY FROM THE EDGE OF THE TOPMOST PORTION OF THE BELT, AND A RECEPTACLE ARRANGED BELOW SAID BOTTOM PORTION OF SAID BELT AND HAVING PORTIONS EXTENDING SIDEWISE FROM UNDER SAID BOTTOM PORTION OF SAID BELT TO A POSITION TO RECEIVE DIRT FROM SAID DOWNWARD PROJECTIONS OF SAID BACKING PLATE. 